1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for identity verification, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for verifying the identity of a student during one or more computer-based training sessions.
2. Description of the Related Art
The dawn of the microprocessor age has ushered an era with previously unimagined dimensions. Through the enabling technology of the microprocessor, an individual can leverage his or her creative power to perform a wide variety of information-processing tasks that previously had to be assigned to entire departments. Additionally, the networks that made the microprocessor ubiquitous around the world empower the user with a global broadcasting capability. Such technological lever has shifted the traditional power structure from central offices to individuals located in far-flung offices around the world, allowing decisions to be made quicker and more accurately.
The empowerment of the individual by the microprocessor has provided a fundamental and pervasive impact on civilizations. In the past, certain citizens could rely on brute strength as a substitute for formal training or education. However, because a well trained workforce is vital to the growth of nations, the proper training of citizens has significant national implications, for those who fail to train their citizens in technological matters face significant disruptions in their economies, possibly leading to extinction.
As reported in America's popular press, many improvements are needed to sustain the status of America as a world power. In the U.S., higher education remains a labor-intensive service industry made up of fiercely independent and mutually suspicious organizations, each of which jealously guards its expensive and underused facilities. Despite all the tax advantages and private and public subsidies associated with higher education, annual tuition increases have become a hallmark for America's colleges and universities. Furthermore, tuitions are expected to consume ever larger fractions of family budgets, leave so many graduates laden with debt and compel more and more prospective students to select colleges on the basis of cost rather than academic abilities or personal preferences.
Additionally, the U.S. educational system has to overcome a number of other forces that are unrelated to financial burdens. One such force negatively affecting the effectiveness of the school system is the lack of qualified faculties or teachers for classrooms. The U.S. educational system also faces competition in the form of television shows and interactive multimedia games, most of which resort to graphical uses of violence and sex. Given such competition for the students' mind-share, traditional teaching tools such as books and lectures face significant hurdles.
Yet another force that negatively impacts the effectiveness of the educational system is the rigid structure built into our existing educational system. This rigid structure forces students to commute to school, regardless of the relationship of the courses to high traffic time. Additionally, to compensate for the lack of qualified teachers, the average class size has increased. Furthermore, the U.S. educational system rigidly enforces group learning. This herd mentality is sub-optimal, as the more intelligent members of the class are constrained to progress at the average class rate. Thus, the rigidity of our existing educational infrastructure causes a significant amount of time to be wasted in doing things other than learning.
Historically, teachers, professors and educators have for centuries informed and raised awareness of the populace using printed publications such as books and libraries. However, the inexorable march of technology has provided a new arsenal to educators: the computer. Since the sixties, experimental computer-based training systems such as PLATO, executing on Control Data Corporation's mainframes, have appeared. More recently, computer-based educational programs have become available to subscribers and other students with access to a microcomputer and a telephone. Today, existing electronic teaching programs have included video teleconferencing and electronic mail to supplement the more traditional teaching tools such as books. However, the present solutions are not competitive with television shows and interactive multimedia games. Furthermore, due to security issues, present day computer aided instruction systems have been limited to non-credit classes to eliminate the thorny potentials for cheating. Thus, the current solutions require the student to take tests at a central testing facility to minimize incidents of cheating. Although a number of more enlightened universities such as Rice University have deployed an honor code system, such faith in humanity is still not the norm in most universities. Thus, for many universities, requiring students to appear at predetermined test locations is a necessary evil to ensure the sanctity of the grade and the honors bestowed upon the students. This requirement adds unnecessary overhead costs for both the education institution and the student. Furthermore, the requirement reduces the productive time that the student could spend studying instead of taking tests.